Hello Everyone!
Today's post is all about food! I love food! I bring my lunch and snacks to work with me every single day! This means that I have to be prepared! Here I am sharing with you some typical snack and lunch items I eat pretty much every week. Be conscious of what you consume because the food industry is cray!
Snacks
Kale Chips. I actually crave these things. And lets get real, no they do not taste like chips. They have a similar texture that is all lol. You can do so many flavor combinations with these. My favorite is lemon juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper and paprika. The key in making these is make sure your kale is very dry after you wash it. If not they will be soggy not crispy. Besides that its simple and hella quick. Oh and I ate this whole bowl by myself. Here's what you do...
1. Pull kale off stem.
2. Wash kale leaves thoroughly.
3. Dry kale leaves thoroughly with a paper towel.
4. Place them on a aluminum lined cookie sheet.
5. Season to your liking.
6. Bake on 385 for about 15 minutes until browned and crispy.
Blood Oranges. I don't remember what made me want to buy a blood orange one day but omg am I glad I did! These are so good! They get their blood color from a natural mutation that happens when the fruit develops when temperatures drop at night. Oranges are great vit C, thiamine, folate, I mean I could go on. I like blood oranges better than regular oranges because they are a little sweeter and have a more mild citrus taste.
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| I also love tea! Teavana is the best! So pricey though. Teavana tea is good gift idea for someone! Its like a thing that you want but don't want to spend the money on lol |
Oatmeal. My mom put me on to this. I love eating oatmeal for breakfast but you can really eat it any time of the day. It is also easy to transport if you wanted to take it to work. I stopped buying the little packets of instant oatmeal and started buying steel cut oats in bulk and making my own flavor combinations. Much cheaper in the long run! I make these the night before and store them in the fridge. The next morning you just pop them in the microwave for a minute or two and enjoy! They have tons of recipes for this on pinterest and youtube. Here is how its done...
1. Add in 1/2 cup of steel cut oats.
2. Seasonings of choice. I usually do cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
3. 1 tablespoon of chia seeds.
3. 2 madjool dates cut into small pieces
4. A few nuts of your choice
5. 1/2 cup of almond milk
6. 1 tablespoon of honey
7. Any fruit of your choice
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| This flavor combo was banana almond butter! Sooo good! |
Lunch
Market Bowl or Veggie Bowl. These are my go to work lunches. They are super easy to make. I can make like 3 meal preps of this in like 20 minutes flat. Its basically just rice or quinoa as your base. Then any roasted veggie of your choice on top. I always add some fresh uncooked spinach too. Then you can top it was some lemon juice and olive oil as a dressing. It is so good for you and very very filling.
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| Here I did brown rice, roasted potatoes and brussel sprouts, sautéed mushrooms and sweet potato. This work week I mad a big fruit salad for us too. I just cut up all the fruit we had and tossed it with a lime juice and honey dressing. Its bomb! |
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| Here was another veggie bowl. At the bottom is kale and garlic quinoa. I buy it at Aldi. It comes in a streamable pouch. Then I roasted some fresh broccoli and brussels sprouts in a lemon garlic marinade. Super quick and easy! |
Sushi bowl. This is my husband and I's favorite thing! It is so good! You literally just throw down some brown rice. Cut up some raw veggies and lay it on top and thats it! The three items that make this meal are the avocado, pink ginger and the dressing. We just buy the pink pickled ginger from the store and here is the simple dressing...
1. Seasame oil
2. Coconut aminos
3. Minced garlic
You just mix these up and poor it on top. You can use soy sauce instead of coconut aminos but soy sauce is loaded with salt. Like loaded! Plus the coconut aminos is slightly sweeter and I like that.
Beans. When people find out you eat a mostly plant based diet the first thing they are so concerned about is your protein consumption. Meat is not the only source of protein guys. Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't even the best source of protein? Its true. Beans are an awesome source of protein. Amongst other nutrients. We eat beans every week at my house. This week I did a meal prep with pinto beans. I put them in the crock pot and seasoned them up! I don't use meat to season my beans either. Here is what I did...
1. Rinse beans well. Sometimes if I can remember I will soak them for a few hours.
2. Turn crock pot on high add in beans.
3. Add in about 3 to 4 cups of veggie broth.
4. 1 cup of water
5. Lipton onion soup mix powder packet
6. A few dashes of hot sauce
7. Season to taste with lot of black pepper
Eating healthy is so important y'all! So so important. I wish everyone took it more seriously. Eating whole foods is the way to go. Cooking your own food at home is key! Subway and chic-fil-a are NOT healthy alternatives! With all these advances in medicine, heart disease and diabetes are still the number one killers! Why is that? It is all about what you consume on a daily basis! Yet you never hear doctors referring patients to nutritionist are telling them about plant based diets. They send them straight to the pharmacy with prescriptions. These meds only help they do not cure. And most times the side effects of the medicine lead patients to more medicine. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, cancer and thyroid disease plague our community like no other. Most of these are preventable and reversible with diet alone! It can be done! I have seen it! One day I was people watching at the mall, just to pass some time and 4 of 5 people that walked by were obese. Not just over weight but obese. Granted this was just my estimation but as a health care professional I know the difference. It seems to be more of discipline or committment issue. It seems as though people are content with obesity because they don't see the immediate consequence. Eating bad kills you slowly. Thats the scary part.
Another rebuttal I hear is that some people cant afford to eat clean. Can it be pricey to buy organic non-gmo foods yes but It can be inexpensive too! Read your labels! I go to Aldi, Walmart and my local farmers market for our groceries and I never spend over $200 a month. I steer clear of foods with high fructose corn syrup. We don't buy meat, juice or sodas at all. Granted it is just my husband and I but you don't have to spend a ton a Whole Foods and Earth Fare and all these fancy health food stores. Once you start eating cleaner and preparing you food the thought of eating KFC and Bojangles will disgust you!
I challenge you to take your lunch and snacks with you to work every day this week or maybe next week because you do need time to prep and go get you groceries and stuff. Statistics show that the average person spends $18 a day on misscelanous crap. Fast food, vending machine snacks, 7-11 slurpees, whatever. Save some coins and your health and take your lunch & snacks to work. Just give it a shot!
I hope this helps someone!
With Love,
April W.
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